Bald Head Island: Chapter 6
My Dear Cousin Chauncey,
As ever, I was delighted to receive a letter from you. However, I was distraught to learn about the disastrous conclusion of the bacchanal you hosted at Good Providence and the extensive damages sustained by your father’s residence. I must throw my lot with Cousin Marie and urge that you have best repair all damaged property before Uncle returns. If your concerns, as I suspect, are of a monetary nature please be advised that the copy of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics presently in your father’s library was placed there by me. You will find that its pages have been hollowed out and inside there is a purse with a substantial amount. Take all or take some, as long as the repairs are promptly undertaken. You would also be wise to spend some of the moneys on a suitable bribe for Cousin Marie to secure her silence in the matter.
In preparation for my eventual revenge I have spent considerable effort systematically charting the daily lives and habits of my adversaries, much as an explorer would an unknown continent. Lately Montague spends most of his waking hours on the polo field, chipping golfballs into a straw hat on the hotel lawn, or practicing skeet shooting at the almost deserted hunt club.
The activities of Flaubert and Anschutz are far more interesting since, besides conspicuously frequent visits by McBroom and your esteemed father, they have entertained many foreign guests. The visitors count in their numbers some wealthy Russian noblemen, an Indian sultan accompanied by a gaggle of doll-like little wives, a group of South African mine owners, and a party of Argentine cattle barons. Sadly, I have been unable to ascertain what has prompted the visitors to journey from such far-flung places, but I have my doubts that it is the salty baths that attracts them to the island.
My surveillance of Emily McBroom, that snake sheltering inside an angel’s flesh, turned out to be surprisingly rewarding. On the latest occasion she spotted me, and presumptuously assumed I was spying on her out of love-sickness. She invited me inside her parlor, and confided that she was getting bored with Montague’s persistent inattentiveness, and further suggested that we finish what had begun at the observatory. No longer under any illusions regarding her purity I accepted the suggestion, and enjoyed her graces thoroughly until daybreak. Upon return to my quarters I could barely pay Mrs. Spencer the attention she demands and indeed deserves, causing her to raise a concerned eyebrow.
Looking forward to learn about the progress of the repairs to your father’s estate, I remain yours etc. etc. etc.
Charles B. Beauregard